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Sunday, September 14, 2008

This is my view today. Lovely, isn't it? Wish me luck because I'm going to have the kids all home tomorrow as there's no way to get to school!

Dawn, Are you still involved in Mamas Like? I follow the reviews, but haven't seen any from you lately. Just wondering what the scoop is.I haven't been. :( I love profiling work-at-home mom's shops, crafts, and services, but I've just been having a hard time trying to find time for everything. I have several hundred emails from people wanting a review on Mamaslike and just can't get to them. It's one of those times that instead of buckling down and just plowing through it, I don't know where to start so I just kinda shut down. Angie's been keeping up with it and she's going to be adding another person, Jackie, to help out with reviews soon.

I wonder what makes some people sleep with their eyes open?Higher intelligence?Yeah, that must be it.

So I was wondering what happened to the email updates? I stopped getting them about mid-August. I resigned up on here because I was missing laughing my butt off at your kids stories.I don't know. If you signed up with Blogarithm, that's probably the problem. I've heard from a lot of people that Blogarithm stinks at sending out updates. You might want to subscribe to Google Reader. Thanks to the advice of you wonderful readers, I discovered Google Reader and I'm LOVING it! If you missed my post about it, you can go HERE to see a video that explains it.

By the way, did you always know you wanted tons of kids?Before we got married, Joe and I talked about how many kids we wanted. He said he wanted 2. I said, "Yep, I want 2 or 3." Not sure how we ended up with 6, but I'm glad we did! :)

What do you think about the moms who cook separate meals for each kid? Whatever - each to their own, right? I personally don't have the time nor patience for that. I cook one meal a night. They can eat it or not. The end. I do make exceptions when I cook something new or something weird that I know the kids don't like. In that case, I'll let them make themselves a sandwich if they want. For example, last night I made meatloaf. I was going to make mashed potatoes to go with it, but I didn't have time so I just threw some rice in the meat mixture and popped it in the oven. The only problem? I didn't use Minute Rice. I used regular long grain rice and when the meatloaf was done, the rice was still REALLY CRUNCHY! Needless to say, several opted for the peanut butter sandwich entree tonight.

okay, she's WAY too clean to have been sucking on that ketchup bottle like that- where are the pics of it in her hair? Behind her ears? Crusted in the nostrils? Or do you just want pics of CADEN like that- maybe girls are cleaner??? hahaAlways love your blog Dawn...I needed that laugh today! Thanks.LOL Peggy! Like THIS POST? And yesterday, Brooklyn came to me with this red stuff all over her head. I couldn't figure out what she'd gotten into. I moved closer to get a better look and smelled what it was - WINE! I'd had a Mary Kay party earlier and hadn't cleaned up all the wine glasses yet and Brooklyn dumped half a glass of Shiraz on her head. She had 4 showers yesterday. Don't ask.

Speaking of my sweet friend Peggy (Coleman's mom). I wanted to copy something she wrote on her Carepages today. In case you guys don't know, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Yesterday, in fact, was Childhood Cancer Awareness DAY and I didn't even know it!

"...On our way home from church we picked up the Sunday paper. Anyone look at the TARGET ad today???(Target is, I mean WAS, my favorite store, so I always grab their ad first) Today I grabbed it, and I wanted to cry. Then I got angry…

If you don’t know by now- September is CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH- right? YESTERDAY was NATIONAL CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS DAY- What about "POWERFUL GOLD?" Have all the carepages and caringbridge sites not been saying this enough? Have we not emailed enough people? Have we not written letters to newspaper after newspaper, Have we not worn our t-shirts, gold ribbons, put our stories out there hoping to make a difference, signed petitions, gathered signatures, joined groups, walked our laps,organized fundraisers… sent letters to our 'leaders' in office, screamed it from our rooftops enough to get some awareness??? Have we done enough to make a difference? Today made me wonder…have we done enough for our kids?obviously we have a LOT more work to do.

The front page of the Target ad is FULL of PINK, (not gold for the kids) but, PINK items...You can get a pink vacuum, pink pots and pans, a pink steam mop, a pink 10 speed mixer…*BIG SIGH*, all to raise money for BREAST CANCER, because quote, “Target proudly supports breast cancer research and education”. Thanks Target…thanks. Do you not make a whole lot more money off your toy department than the bra department in your store?

Now don’t get me wrong. I mean, I'm a woman, I have breasts. I support breast cancer research…I do. I’m not saying we shouldn’t support a cure for it, but I'm also a mother watching her son fight for his life because of cancer. I’m not angry they’re donating to Breast Cancer Research. There are women I LOVE who have fought the monster. I don't take anything away from their fight. I’m happy they’re getting funding, that it’s saving lives…I’m happy they’ve made so much progress in curing it…I'm happy for the awareness that's everywhere. I've bought the pink items... I’m not saying we all shouldn’t support it.

What I AM saying is CHILDREN deserve the SAME AWARENESS AND SUPPORT!!!Read the fine print in Target's ad…”Dyson and Target will partner together to give $30 of each upright purchase and $10 of each hand vac purchase to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation- total donation $1.4 million…” It goes on…more #'s...I stopped there. I’m just so **** angry. What I’m angry about is…WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS??? It's an insult to these little heroes, that so few are recognizing what they go through, or too few care. Couldn't Target also proudly support THEM?Especially the timing of this ad. Could they have put the pink items on sale in OCTOBER, when it IS national BREAST cancer awareness month?This is the Weekend of CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS DAY, the MONTH OF SEPTEMBER…CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS...HELLOOOOO???? Is anyone aware??? We obviously aren't shouting it loud enough, and I’m frustrated.

*Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.*On the average 12,500 children and teens will be diagnosed with some form of cancer each year in this country.*One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.*Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.*Cancer remains the #1 disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.*In the U.S. almost 3,000 children do not survive cancer each year.*Over the past two decades, only ONE new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use.*Currently there are between 30-40,000 children undergoing cancer treatment in the U.S.*As a nation, we spend over $14 BILLION (that's with a B!!!) per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on Childhood Cancer Research each year.*There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximately $595,000 for research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of childhood cancer.*Research funds are scarce as most money is diverted to well-publicized adult forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate.*Right now, this second, somewhere in America, there are 7 children fighting for their lives who won't live through the day."

Sweet Coleman's Cancer Fighting Face

Ooooo! And according to Mimi (and she knows what she's talking about!), Curesearch is the best place to donate money for childhood cancer. If you want to donate in Julian's name, HERE'S a link for you.

OK, so I was asked to give my 2 cents on back-to-school must haves for the website, TastyBaby.com. Here's the thing, all these moms gave their actual back-to-school ideas for actual, real products. And then there's my wisdom smart aleck comments. I just never learn.

Click HERE to see my review of Mr.Clean Magic Erasers and check back later this week because I have got some FANTASTIC (like $400 leather diaper bag fantastic!) giveaways coming up!

39 comments:

What, you mean you don't have a boat to get them out? No wading to school? No ShopVac to sort that mess out? Fortunately, no bad water by us anymore. Although I just saw that we have flood warnings until sometime tomorrow. Lovely.

And I saw the Target ad but never even thought about the timing of it (other than wondering if it's getting overexposed and making people complacent). Bad, Target. My guess is that they had no idea whatsoever but probably need to be educated!

I was sad to read Peggy's notes about childhood cancer. It is so sad!!

And the Target ad you mention actually made me think of heart disease - it kills many more women each year than breast cancer. Does breast cancer get that much attention because they have good marketers or because it is about boobs?

Even my male GP preached at me (though I could be considered the choir, as I already know) that heart attacks are much more deadly for women than men and kill way more of us. (the symptoms of heart attack for women are not the same as for men and are things like back and neck pain, fatigue, nausea, and anxiety. (too many of us have those every day) Women are much less likely to seek help with these symptoms and therefore are not treated...

Sorry about your flooding. Hope it didn't get in your house. I have two sisters and a brother in Texas, and they were right in the path of Ike. Needless to say I was very worried about them until I heard from them that they all made it through with no harm. All these storms are wearing everyone out. I never cooked separate meals for my children either. However, they did have to eat at least one spoon full of each thing at the table. They learned to like many things that they didn't originally like.. Mostly vegetables. Go figure! They now think my cooking is the BOMB! KIDS!!!!!!Sudee in Florida

Sorry about the flooding. Hope you find something constructive to keep everyone REALLY busy with tomorrow. My brother lives in Houston outskirts and had to evacuate, doesn't know what he'll go home to yet, hopefully still a house.

It is sooo strange to sit here in FL with dry streets and read a blog from Chicago with pics of flooded streets from a hurricane. I'm so sorry for your misery, and pray you escape without loss or damage of any kind.

I totally share your frustration over the lack of concern for our children with cancer. I plan on copying your information and calling my state and federal representatives to ask why there is such disparity in the allocation of research funds. If nothing else, percentages of our tax dollars should go into research based on the numbers of victims of any given disease group. I recommend your other readers do the same. Your reps perk up to such calls, cause they figure if we care enough to figure out where to call, we'll also follow up and see how they vote, and it could cost them the next election. Phone numbers for their offices are readily available on line.God bless and stay dry.

It must be devastating to look out your window to the streets in your pictures. I'm so sorry. And just when you thought you were starting a new groove with most of them in school, and today they will be home with you. Pick yourself up, girlfriend! It's party time!

Tell them it's "Spa Day" at the Meehan Estate. Assign each child a job at the "Spa". Get a massage, pedi, mani, facial (oh, won't that be fun....give that job to Brooklyn!)hair and (I was going to say waxing, but I'm not sure what would happen....oh, go ahead...live a little!) and waxing!

If that doesn't work, build a fort and have a popcorn fight.

Hope your day improves. Kudos for printing the words of Coleman's mom.

I do my share of fundrasing for pink ladies whose month is Oct. But there is not enough done for children. M&M will not make a special bag with gold ribbons for the cause. That makes me mad!! A candy company can not get on board with children but will sell bags of pink M&M's!!!! Needless to say there is a ban on Mars and M&M related products in this house and classroom!

For what it is worth, I looked up Target's media relations phone number (612-696-3400) and asked why Target would have chosen to promote Breast Cancer awareness one month early instead of even a small blurb about Childhood Cancer Awareness Day or Month. The person I spoke with was quite pleasant and said she would pass my concerns onto the Advertising dept. I doubt that my phone call will really make any difference, but I felt obligated to at least call in behalf of Julian and the other children/families fighting childhood cancer.

just called Target (thanks for the # Dianne, BTW!) The person I called was very pleasant, but basically said "we can't unring that bell"... but he did say he would notify the advertizing dept so that they can "plan appropriately" next year. Just keep calling and letting them know... Educating the masses is the only way we can raise awareness leading to changes!

Dawn, Thank you for screaming that in yet another place. I, too, get exasperated with all the pink. Breast Cancer research was funded to the tune of $580 million this year- and yes, that's great. But our children are dying. Could somebody- like Target, or one of the other very successful corporations where we Moms all spend lots of money- fund pediatric cancer research??? I didn't see the Target ad because I was caught up in marking 20 weeks sinced I lost my daughter Mira, 4, to treatment for brain cancer. And even in the depths of grief, I will scream and shout and raise awareness and look for more funding. Because now that is all I can do.Christinewww.mirasmovement.org

Dawn I so feel for you! I have had kids with specific illnesses that are the most most important and always looked over.

I mean what could be more important than my cause? I certainly see your point on the timing issue. That was just stupid on their part and should have been researched.

I have a kid with systemic onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. He got it at age 4. I also have one that is ADHD/Bipolar/Gifted and a pain in the butt. For years we have raised funds for our favorite causes. The others are not unimportant, I just can't do it all. I chose 3 to give generously to and support so I could feel less guilt. The rest I have to bypass. My sons both have potentially fatal illnesses. Do people even know that kids get these diseases? They don't even want to know. Even the doctors don't usually know about the arthritis!

So, I just have gotten thicker skin, keep trying to raise awareness and funds, and that has been our only way to fight back.

I needed your laughs today, however. I was in a car crash last week and haven't been out of bed till yesterday.

Thanks for always being real, AND fun and funny.

We love you and all you do! Partly because you aren't perfect but trying to be!

Have a super day and forgive Target eventually. They had to pick some causes and not others, and they do it for marketing, I think. They just really chose a stupid day to push this.

I agree about the add in Target, and that there should be more awareness (not sure if I spelled that right) about childhood cancer. However one thing that sadly gets talked about even less is Congenital Heart Defects. It is the leading cause of infant deaths in the first year of life. My nephew who is now 8 has it and has already had a heart valve transplant and will be getting a heart translplant in the next 2 or 3 years. His doctors have no idea what exactly to do since they have never seen a child as sick as him live to this point. Lets hope that he lives a long and happy life and that they can learn from him in order to save others lifes!

Dawn - Thank you so much for your comments about Childhood Cancer Month! As the mom of a child who has had a brain tumor and is currently on watch and wait protocol (actually I like watch and LIVE because we are NOT waiting for any tumor to return!), it also gets my goat that not much attention is focused on pediatric cancers! Don't get me wrong - it's great that we put so much effort into the cause of Breast Cancer - I have family and a good friend who are survivors- but a little more focus on the children would be great!_Becca

Ok, those pictures are SCARY, not so much cause you're stuck with the kids all day but because if your are anything like mine water is a huge attraction to kids. Every time the door opened I'd panic I know mine would have their swim suits, snorkels and floaties on.

Hope you are finding your way through the awful flooding and that it recedes soon.

As for the Target ad, I hear you! All of the causes are great, but it seems like there are a few that get all of the attention from major stores.

I have a personal connection to Variety; The Children's Charity. As much as I support all of the women battling breast cancer and the E.G Pediatric Aids Foundation, I wish some of the other causes would get some mainstream attention. Spread the love, or money, ya know?

Thank you so much for the excerpt from Peggy's Carepages post. I consider myself a pretty educated person; I watch the news, read the paper, try to keep up with current events, etc. I was horrified that I had no idea that there was a separate color ribbon / campaign to raise money/awareness for childhood cancer. Peggy is right: pink is everywhere (everyone seen the new "save the ta-tas" stickers?), but you never see anything about specific money being raised to help the littlest victims of cancer. Thank you for teaching me something new today. Hugs and prayers to all who, unfortunately, know about the gold ribbons all too well.

I had never heard of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month or the significance of gold ribbons before yesterday's post. Since I generally pay attention to childhood health issues that was a bit of a surprise.

I have to admit, I was surprised by the timing of the Target ad as Breast Cancer Awareness isn't until Oct. My first reaction was they've turned Breast Cancer into a marketing gimmick.

I have a suggestion for those involved with funding pediatric cancer research. The Breast Cancer Site also has The Child Health Site, the Literacy Site, and a few others where people can go and click daily to fund various things. They might be interested in doing the same thing for Pediatric Cancer Research or treatment.

Thanks for letting us know about Childhood Cancer Awareness Day and Month, because I certainly didn't. I lost my best friend to leukemia when were were in grade school. In fact, I just Stood Up Against Cancer for her on my blog on Sept. 5th. I can't believe the stats you shared...that is just abysmal and disheartening.

There's a charity called Child's Play that donates to the isolation wing of many children's hospitals, run by the guys at Penny Arcade. They donate money, books, TVs and video game systems for the kids (and families) who are stuck in a small room sometimes for weeks at a time.

It's not going toward a cure, but if a Nintendo Wii helps somebody endure the pain, I'd still say it's a worth-while cause.

UGHH! I know how you feel. I am part of the world that tries to promote Congenital Heart Defect awareness. There is no national recognition, yet it affect 1 in 125live births! It is the #1 birth defect.....but it is all about breast cancer. I think there should be more equality with the promoting of awareness......I loved your rant! Thanks!

Hey Dawn...I have a question for your next SSO, if possible. I'm sure you've mentioned it before, so forgive me for asking something you've already covered, but how close are you children? I have a 9 month old & just found out I'm pregnant again. They'll be 17 months apart & I'm freaking out. Since you've managed to survive your 6 pack, I hope you can tell me I'll survive 2 under 2 when I don't even know anyone with 2 kids. Well, except you, of course.

Thanks for pointing out it is Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Not enough attention is given to childhood cancers. I am a big cancer advocate and have a soft spot for children with this dreadful disease, so I feel Peggy's anger towards Target. I think the timing is poor. If they choose to support Breast Cancer research, that is fine with me, but couldn't they have waited until the appropriate month to do their big "pink" sale? They will definitely be hearing from me!

Amen on the Breast Cancer Awareness Month starting in September and taking over Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I want to live in a world where Gold Ribbons are plastered everywhere, and there are as many commercials during September as there are in October for Breast Cancer Awareness. I've watched far too many precious children die quietly of this disease. I still meet people who don't even realize children can GET cancer.

Peggy and I are on the same team. And, like most of you all, we never thought.....but it did. I lost my son AJ in January 2008. Now we fight for Coleman and thousands of other kids. I started People Against Childhood Cancer to unite people and raise awareness of the #1 killer disease of our kids. I started The Petition To Raise Awareness of Childhood Cancer to focus attention on the issue. My buddy Peggy is a proud supported of both. Please spread that Petition around.....believe me, its a worthy 2 min. of your time. And it is probably the largest collection of sad stories you will ever see......16,000 signatures and thousands and thousands of childhood cancer stories.....do it now before your forget. Do it for the kids....

Not to nit pick, but October traditionally was AIDS Awareness month, and those of us who have been active in those charities have been ignored for years now, overshadowed by breast cancer awareness. Everyone has a good cause, and everyone deserves a moment to talk about it. By posting the information on your blog, you did just that.